Keivan Stassun Receives MacArthur "Genius Grant"

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced its 2024 class of MacArthur Fellows, and among the 22 recipients of the coveted "genius grants" is astronomer and AAS member Keivan Stassun (Vanderbilt University).

The MacArthur Foundation cites Stassun for "expanding opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers for underrepresented populations" and further notes that "he has spearheaded two major initiatives that challenge the limitations of traditional educational and career pathways and improve demographic representation in STEM." Stassun was a founding co-director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD Bridge Program to increase the diversity of students receiving advanced degrees in STEM fields. In 2018, he founded the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, which takes a multipronged approach to helping neurodiverse individuals find and maintain meaningful employment.

Stassun's research centers on star formation, stellar activity, exoplanetary systems, eclipsing binary stars, and more. He is an author on nearly 600 refereed publications and has supervised dozens of students through PhD and master theses. In 2020, Stassun was elected as a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. He was an invited plenary speaker at the 232nd AAS meeting, and he previously chaired the AAS's Committee on Status of Minorities in Astronomy and served on the Committee on Graduate Student Diversity.

As described on the Foundation's website, the MacArthur Fellowship is "a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.... At the heart of the MacArthur Fellows Program is its aim to identify extraordinarily creative individuals with a track record of excellence in a field of scholarship or area of practice, who demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions."

Congratulations, Keivan!